1. Technical Field
This invention relates to pet restraints which are adapted to keep a pet, such as a dog or cat, restrained within a vehicle so as to prevent injury which is common during sudden stops when the pet is thrown forward in the vehicle. Devices such as this are also used to maintain the pet within an unattended vehicle by restricting the pet to a certain area in the vehicle without harm to either the pet or the vehicle.
2. Description of Prior Art
Prior Art devices of this type have relied on a variety of different structural configurations in an attempt to restrain the pet within a given area. See for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,597,359, 3,948,222, French Pat. No. 2,502,962 and U.S. Pat. No. 230,036. Also see World Almanac Book of Inventions published 1985 on a safety belt for dogs.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,597,359 a platform and safety harness for restraining a pet is disclosed in which a platform having a supportive bracket is positioned on the vehicle of a seat. The platform itself is secured to the seat by the seat's safety belt with a secondary independent belt extending from the platform itself to engage with a harness on the pet characterized by a cross chest configuration with the point of attachment of the harness to a safety belt configuration on the belly band of the harness on the pet.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,222 a animal safety harness is disclosed which utilizes a flexible chain element secured by an I-bolt into the floor of the vehicle which is engaged at two points on either side of the chest strap of a harness on the pet. This device utilizes the two points of attachment to the chest band of a harness with a chain extending therebetween from which is extended a attachment point which is engageable with the flexible element extending into the floor of the vehicle.
In French Pat. No. 2,502,926 a harness is disclosed having an upstanding swivel at the intersection points of the harness members on the back of the dog for engagement by a elongated flexible strap which can be secured into a vehicle by an achorage point.
In U.S. Pat. No. D. 230,036 a tail engaged dog control harness is disclosed which utilizes a harness configuration having a separate strap for engagement of the dog's tail from which extends a flexible member through an attachment point on the harness.
Finally, the World Almanac Book of Inventions discloses a safety belt for dogs invented in 1980 by an Australian firm which shows the use of a two-strapped harness configuration extending around the dog's chest and neck and under his torso behind his front legs with a chain attached to a safety seat belt in a vehicle engaging the neck or chest portion.